


you've got to pick up every stitch

by kimaracretak



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alien Mythology/Religion, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Force-Sensitive Amilyn Holdo, Gen, Jakku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26366152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/pseuds/kimaracretak
Relationships: Amilyn Holdo & Rey
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: We die afen and afen





	you've got to pick up every stitch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saiditallbefore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/gifts).



Amilyn was late.

This was not, strictly speaking, unusual - Rey had a lot of contacts, in her line of work, and they all had very good reasons for not wanting to tie themselves down to specific days and times, but Amilyn took an uncanny sort of pride in showing up precisely one day and three hours after any time she promised. And she was now a day and a half late, and Rey wouldn't really say she was worried, but she was ... curious.

She kicked her heels idly against the side of the downed TIE she'd been sitting on for the better part of an hour. Tall enough to give her sightlines across most of the Badlands but not so big as to make her a particularly tempting target, it was one of her favourite places to camp out. She was good at waiting, wouldn't have made it far as an independent contractor if she wasn't. Jakku had burned patience into her bones one by one, ship by ship and contact by contact.

The sun was rising, creeping up with the unnatural speed of the season. Soon it would be too hot to wait out any longer, and though she privately ranked Amilyn as one of the smartest of her contacts, Jakku's paths were obscure even to Rey, after all this time. If she left, she had no guarantee Amilyn would find her, and if Amilyn didn't find her -

The most recent war hadn't come close to Jakku yet, but it was impossible to miss the tide of death sweeping through the galaxy, especially when so many of the dead were the restless sort. Rey was not sure of many things in her life, the shifting sands had taught her that early on, but she was sure of one thing: her life, and the galaxy's future, would be much poorer without Amilyn Holdo.

Rey adjusted her mask and scanned the horizon once more, discarding the translucent mirages and finding very little left. Only the ships, and a small cloud of dust making its way towards Niima. She reached out for it, following the thin trail of life, and found only Devi.

Fifteen minutes, Rey decided, and then not even her mask and its new-old polarized lenses would be able to keep the sun at a bearable level. Maybe she would be able to take a crate or two back, find shelter in the Observatory and bargain for use of the Astronomer's comm system to attempt to reach Amilyn.

No sooner had she decided that than she had the familiar crack and whine of a ship entering atmosphere. Rey looked up, bracing herself against the glare of light off the brushed silver shine of the ship's blunt nose. It was Amilyn's ship, she could see as it drew nearer - the purple streaking its way along the sides was unmistakable. But there were scars on the hull that hand't been there last time she visited, and the ship was canting in unevenly and far too fast.

Stabilisers, Rey thought, scrambling to her feet, or something in the artificial gravity controls. Either way, even if the ship landed in one piece, it was already obvious that it wasn't lifting off again without serious repairs.

Air screamed against the hull as the ship descended, and Rey felt like her heart was in her throat. _Oh, R'iia_ , she thought, and she had never really believed in the Teedo's prayers, she thought that, perhaps, this was all a prayer ever was - unbearable desire in the face of all the reasons to give up. _R'iia, stay still, guide her safe_.

The ship righted itself for a brief moment, swung around to face Tuanul before correcting again. The air was so still Rey was hardly sure she was breathing. _Focus_ , she willed Amilyn - and something answered.

Not in words, hardly even in images, but calm swept through Rey. It was an utterly unfamiliar calm, cool and full of shades of purple and grey, and Rey knew that if she could touch it it would be crystalline, like all the instruments she lifted to the skies every night.

The very sun seemed to dim as the ship wove unevenly through the spires of the Graveyard, and Rey slowly became aware of her breathing once more as the battered hull skimmed over the sand like an impossibly gangly animal, coming to rest mostly on top of one of the hard-packed empty spaces that served as landing pads for much smaller vehicles. As Rey watched, the nose tipped forward, electricity crackling over the hull, and the sharp scent of burning glass reached her nose.

She slid down the side of the TIE as fast as she could without breaking anything, but had to slow as she picked her way over to Amilyn's ship. She could hear the steady creaking of its landing supports on the newly picked up wind, and, faintly underneath, something that she hoped wasn't laughter. Amilyn had landed safe, and had landed on her own. What did R'iia think she was owed?

But deep in the hollow of her chest, the purple-grey calm rested, cool and assured, and Rey thought it might be saying: all will be fine. 

Amilyn had emerged by the time Rey made it to the ship, bleeding a few shades darker than her hair colour. Up close the landing looked much less stable, the ship still swaying lightly with the force of its landing.

At least, Rey hoped it was just from the landing. Still, she tried to keep a normal level of concern in her voice as she said, "Amilyn! What happened?"

"Disagreements with customs officials," she said, and, _lie_ , Rey thought. _Lie_ , echoed the calm grey as Amilyn raised an eyebrow. "Ah" she said. "I had wondered if you would turn your insight to living people rather than ships' corpses."

"What," Rey swallowed hard, unsure what she wanted to ask. What Amilyn would tell her even if she did ask. "When you landed, I felt - does that have anything to do with -"

"Yes," Amilyn said. "And - no, not entirely." She reached out as if to take Rey's hand, and then pulled her hand back as if she'd thought better, brushing her hair out of her eyes instead. In the burning air between them, Rey wondered for the first time if Amilyn might be offering something closer to friendship than business.

If she knew what it meant, to offer friendship to someone like Rey.

"I think you owe me answers," Rey said, and the wind picked up at her feet. _No_ , she thought to R'iia, _mine_. Sand drifted over her, hanging in a curtain at her back like a cloak. "But we can't talk outside. For - many reasons."

Amilyn's gaze was fixed somewhere over her shoulder, and she nodded. "I agree. Take me to the observatory, please, Rey."

It was only her accent that made her name sound foreign in Amilyn's mouth, closer to Raeh than anything. Only her accent, not an attempt to call a dead woman that Amilyn couldn't have known to life.

Only her accent.

Only the wind.

The observatory had never felt further away, even as the spreading purple-grey in her chest began to form into a word: _safe, safe, safe_.


End file.
